NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Rev. Richard Anthony Laurick, C.S.C., 99, died at Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, Indiana, on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
Fr. Laurick was born on May 25, 1924, in Oak Park, Illinois, and is one of four children of Anthony and Elsie (Brunsky) Laurick.
Fr. Laurick attended elementary school at St. Bernardine School in Forest Park, Illinois, and then graduated from St. Philip High School in Chicago, Illinois, in 1941. He spent his first year after graduation in the Servite Seminary in Wisconsin. World War II began that year and he left the seminary to work a couple of different jobs before entering the United States Navy in May 1943. Upon discharge from the Navy, he attended Loyola University in Chicago for a year before entering Holy Cross Seminary at the University of Notre Dame in 1947. He entered the Holy Cross Novitiate in South Bend, Indiana, on August 15, 1948, professed final vows on August 16, 1952, and was ordained a Holy Cross priest on June 9, 1954. Fr. Laurick earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy (1950) and a master’s in theology (1959) from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC (1967).
In 1954, Fr. Laurick’s first assignment was to St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, as Prefect of Religion. After three years there, he served in the same role at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, until 1962. From 1962-1966, he studied at the Catholic University of America before assisting for a year at Notre Dame High School for Boys in Niles, Illinois. From 1967-1986, he worked for the Archdiocese of Chicago in the religious education office. In 1986, he was assigned pastor of St. Stephen’s Parish in South Bend, Indiana, where he would serve for the next three years. From 1989-1990, Fr. Laurick assisted the Diocese of Kalamazoo and served at Bronson Methodist Hospital. From 1990-2013, he served as Chaplain for the Spiritual Care Department at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana. Beginning in 2001, he assisted Holy Cross and St. Stanislaus Parishes for the next five years before residing at Our Lady of Fatima House from 2006 until 2013. In 2013, Fr. Laurick was assigned to reside at Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, Indiana.
Preceding him in death are Fr. Laurick’s parents, Anthony and Elsie Laurick, and his two sisters, Sr. M. Ione Laurick, OSF, and one at childbirth. He is survived by his sister, Rosemary Miller, and many beloved nieces and nephews.
The Funeral Mass will be at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, Indiana. You may also join us via live stream at funerals.holycrossusa.org
Burial will be in the community cemetery at Notre Dame. Kaniewski Funeral Home, South Bend, is in charge of the arrangements.
Memorial contributions in support of the mission and ministries of the Congregation of Holy Cross can be made to: United States Province of Priests and Brothers, Office of Advancement, P.O. Box 765, Notre Dame, IN 46556-0765 or online at https://donate.holycrossusa.org
Click here to read a tribute to Rev. Richard Anthony Laurick, C.S.C., by his niece Mary Miller Hamlin.
